(RightWing.org) – A Wisconsin school district is under fire for running a controversial scholarship policy. The district is actively looking for new teachers from ethnic minorities. Critics say this is racist discrimination against white people.
The School District of Beloit, in Beloit, Wisconsin, is promoting its “Grow Your Own Multicultural Teacher Scholarship Program” to district employees and graduating high school seniors who want a career in education. With up to $20,000 in funding available for each of two candidates this year, it’s a key part of the district’s plan to get teachers who “look like” their students. The problem is the program is only open to candidates who look like some students.
Now, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) is challenging the program, saying it’s racist and discriminatory. The issue is that the program is only open to ethnic minority candidates; the groups it wants to recruit are Black/African American, Native American/Alaskan, Asian, and Hispanic/Latinx. WILL says that makes it racist because white candidates are excluded simply because of the color of their skin.
WILL associate counsel Cara Tolliver says the program is “patently unconstitutional and illegal,” citing Supreme Court precedents that have ruled against so-called “positive discrimination.” She slammed the district for shutting out qualified candidates for teaching jobs on the “irrelevant and unlawful” basis of their skin color.
The school district is running the program with the Stateline Community Foundation, a charitable fund manager. It launched the initiative in 2021, and the first scholarships were awarded last year. The plan is to give out one a year to a graduating senior and another to a district employee — but WILL wants to remove the racist element of the program.
Tolliver says the district is violating the Constitution and the 1964 Civil Rights Act and is warning that WILL plans “further action” unless officials back down from the discriminatory program.
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